I THINK for most of us at an early age, our Saturday’s were all about playing football for the school. I was no different and I played to a decent level. The only thing was I wasn’t really going to go much further as the other guy at the school who played in my position, Tony McBride, signed for Celtic. Let’s just say I was second best.

I’d grown up in and around boxing – my grandfather boxed for Great Britain at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics – and through my dad, Tommy Snr, there was a natural progression for me into the sport. I gained my first licence on April 7, 1970. I was a second, trainer, matchmaker, agent, then promoter. Because of all of my dad’s friends, I served my apprenticeship amongst the very best, but because I was the boss’s son, it didn’t mean I was ever going to be guaranteed a job, or have an easy ride.

Boxing was massively popular, right across Glasgow and amongst the other sportsmen, especially the footballers. Bertie Auld and Mike Jackson were big into their boxing from the Celtic camp; Willie Henderson and Bobby Shearer – he would always watch Walter McGowan who was also from Hamilton – amongst the Rangers team who enjoyed the fight nights, whether it was at Paisley ice rink or the Kelvin Hall. Those friendships endured for evermore.

On a Saturday, BBC’s Grandstand was avid viewing, especially just after one o’clock which became the traditional boxing slot.

Because of the way the British Boxing Board of Control worked, you couldn’t show British title fights live. So, Saturday became the place where the country first used to see the very biggest and best fights from the previous week.

York Hall in Bethnal Green, the King’s Halls in Belfast, the Albert Hall and the Empire Pool at Wembley, became as famous as any football ground in the country, simply because of the profile boxing had on TV. People could buy tickets, attend the contests, and then see them again a few days later. No videos or hard drives then.

One of the fights that featured was from the opening night of the St Andrew’s Sporting Club in Glasgow, when Ken Buchanan fought and beat Jim Watt for the British lightweight title.

This was two Scots, one a former world champion, one a future world title holder, going toe-to-toe for a Lonsdale Belt, but maybe more importantly, for local bragging rights.

It was an epic contest. I will be honest, that was 43 years ago and I don’t think there has been an all-Scottish fight that comes anywhere near to matching it, either in terms of the quality on show or as a battle. I still have the contracts for that fight, both in terms of the purse bid and for the TV agreement.

Today, with the background to that fight – all-Scottish, Edinburgh vs Glasgow, champion against contender – it would have taken several million pounds to win the purse bid. And that is before television. The reality then was that just £7200 secured the contest.

Around 1978 I got my management licence, but was never going to go head-to-head against my father, especially when he had the nickname The Starmaker. But when he died in 1979, I made the move – and never really looked back.

Watt-Buchanan showed what was possible, but it wasn’t until the mid-1980s, when I took over at the St Andrew’s Sporting club, that we got a regular TV contract from BBC Scotland, helped by sponsorship from Scottish Brewers. That linked us again with the football fraternity, because Rangers were sponsored by McEwan’s, so there was that cross-over again: they’d be invited to the boxing; I’d be a guest at Ibrox.

Of course, none of that would have come together without there being quality in the ring. Drew Docherty, Paul Weir, Charlie Kane, Pat Clinton and the likes. We had eliminators, Scottish and British title fights. It made for good viewing. And, again, I don't think today in Scotland anything comes near to that group of fighters.

Now I have less interest in boxing, more in the way of darts, looking after four top pros including Gary Anderson. There can’t be many who have managed two Scottish world champs in two sports. Not that I get to watch darts on TV – Veronica, my wife, won’t allow it. My nerves and blood pressure just go.

I’m even worse at the venue. I just sit, unmoved, the only thing that changes is the colour of my face.

I keep abreast of anything that is happening on the football front through my grandson Max, who is 10. Saturday morning now is still about football, but it’s him filling me in with every detail, about any team, from any country, and any tournament. I’m pretty up to speed.

That was why, at the recent Anthony Joshua fight, I knew exactly who I was going to have my photograph taken with in the VIP zone, although I don’t think Max bought my excuse that I’d only got my picture taken with Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Manchester United so I could show him!

Tommy Gilmour is a sports consultant. In 2007 he was awarded the MBE for his services to boxing.